Former Pirates' House proprietor receives Rotary award

Herb Traub presented with Commitment to Service Award.

Retired Savannah restaurateur Herb Traub received Rotary International's Commitment to Service Award on June 1 in a ceremony in Dublin officiated by Rotary International President Glenn E. Estess Sr.

The national award goes to Rotarians with 25 or more years of service and "a record of unwavering support for the club and the ideas of Rotary."

Traub ran The Pirates' House for more than 30 years. Last year, he noticed that the weather vane at Daffin Park, a sculpture by John Boyd Smith in 1996, was losing its luster. Traub contacted Smith, who stripped and sandblasted the vane, repainted and resealed it. Last December, it was put back atop the pavilion.

Traub was chairman of a Rotary civic improvement committee in the early 1990s, tasked with orchestrating a Daffin Park beautification project. The weather vane was the final touch of the $225,000 project.

It was one of many club projects Traub has been involved since joining the Rotary Club of Savannah in 1962.

Chatham County is home to seven clubs and approximately 570 Rotarians. Rotary Club of Savannah is the county's oldest. It was chartered Feb. 1, 1914, and has about 230 members.

Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders with approximately 1.2 million members in more than 31,000 clubs in 167 countries.